1 I N T R O D U C T I O N

1.1 Introduction

“Wars of Napoleon Strategy Game” is a 1 or 2-player VGA graphic strategic level wargame of the Napoleonic era. The registered version of the game includes a tactical level module which permits individual battles to be fought.

The object of the game is to accumulate as many victory points as possible. The game is played in turns of 2 months during which both sides perform their actions. Decisions are made using menus which are described below.

1.2 Requirements

The program requires the following files:

WON.EXE – the main strategic level game program

NAPOLEON.EXE – tactical level game module

NWS.CFG – your customizable configuration file

NWSxxxx.INI – initialization data file for year xxxx

LEADxxxx.DAT – army leader data file for year xxxx

EUROxxxx.MAP – city data file for year xxxx

WON.DOC – this documentation file

HISCORE.NWS – high score file

GAMESATA.INI – initialization data file

In addition, the program requires several *.VGA and *.EGA files for graphical effects.

There are other optional files that may be produced as you customize and play the game.

1.3 Running the Game

Type ‘NWS’ at the command line prompt. The title screen display will appear while the game initializes.

The option to load a game or begin a new game is given at the beginning of the game, in addition to being available during the game.

1.4 Tactical Level Game

In addition to the main strategy level game of NWS.EXE, there is a tactical level game, NAPOLEON.EXE, which may be linked to the strategic game by setting the TACTICAL option in the Utility Menu of NWS.

1.5 Running from Windows

This is a DOS-based game, but it can be run under Windows* or Windows 95 using the RUN command (using the Start with Windows 95 or the File Manager in Windows). You will need to type both the path and file name to run the program. Typically this will be:

C:\NWS\NWS.EXE

Both Windows and Windows 95 carry overhead that may slow the game. If this is a problem, you should exit Windows or Windows 95, then change to the NWS directory and run the program under DOS.

(*Windows and Windows 95 are trademarks of Microsoft).

1.6 How to Win

You are awarded victory points for (1) capturing cities, (2) capturing armies, (3) winning battles, and (4) special events. Each city you control gives you a certain number of victory points (and a like amount of income). This varies depending on the city. For instance, a large city such as Paris is worth more than a smaller city such as Metz. To see the number of victory points each city is worth, use the “Inform” option to access the “Cities” report.

Objective cities are worth an additional bonus of 100 victory points in addition to the normal victory points. If you lose your objective, you permanently lose the bonus income. Additionally, the game will end unless the “Objective” end game condition is de-selected.

If your army defeats an enemy that has no route for retreat or causes enough casualties to crush the enemy, you capture the army and receive a bonus of 25 victory points. Eliminating the enemy fleet also results in bonus victory points.

For each battle you win, you receive 1 victory point. Certain special events result in extra victory points for one side or the other.

The game continues until one side achieves an end game condition. (See End Game Conditions under the “Utility” submenu). The side that triggers the end of the game receives an additional bonus of 100 victory points.

If your score is one of the top 5 scores for the side played, your name and score are entered into the high score file.

When the game is over, you are returned to the opening screen, with the option to quit, load or begin a new game.

1.7 Map Display

The title screen will clear and a map of western Europe will appear along with a menu entitled ‘Main’. This is the Main Menu from which you choose most of your options. Above the menu is a box showing which side is currently selected, French or Allies and the number of victory points for that side.

The small colored circles on the map display are cities or other key locations. There are a total of 67 such locations. Blue circles are French controlled; red ones are Allied controlled. Gray circles are true neutral cities (e.g. Bern, Switzerland). Green circles are Allied cities at peace: they belong to a potentially Allied country, but the country has not yet gone to war.

Two of the cities are OBJECTIVE cities, and their circle is marked with a small yellow cross. Connections between the cities will be shown by dashed lines.

If the circle representing the city is surrounded by a HOLLOW BLACK box, it is a FORTIFIED (FORT+) location; if surrounded by a SOLID BLACK box, the location is HEAVILY FORTIFIED (FORT++). Any level of fortification tends to improve resistance to enemy attacks.

Small flag icons appear next to some cities. Each flag represents an army.

1.8 Nationality

Each city on the display is related to a country. Each army raised has the nationality of the country associated with the city where it was first formed. Each commander also has a nationality. If the commander happens to lead an army of different nationality from his own, the entire unit will suffer a cohesion penalty in combat.

The following countries are potentially ALLIED countries:

Austria

England

Russia

Prussia

Spain

The remaining countries (e.g., Switzerland) are truly neutral, and though they may be drawn into the conflict, they will not join the alliance.

At the beginning of the game, many of the Allied countries may be at peace. While an Allied country is not at war, it does not contribute to Allied income, nor can armies be recruited in the cities of that country by the Allies. Such cities are represented by green circles.

If a nonaligned Allied country is invaded by France it automatically enters the war. (Allied armies can pass or retreat through nonaligned Allied cities with no effect).

Any city currently possessed will contribute to income. However, recruiting can only be done in certain cities:

RECRUITING

Original City Owner

French

Allies

French

Y

N

Allied (but not at war)

N

N

Allied (at war)

N

Y

Neutral

Y

Y

1.9 Hot Keys

There are several game command short cut or hot keys that are useful:

F1 – shows a list of the hot keys

F3 – redraw the screen

F4 – show a summary of unit strengths in each occupied city

F7 – speed “End Turn” key: avoids the “are you sure” prompt

1.10 Using the Menus

You may move the highlighted menu option by pressing the “up” and “down” arrow keys. Pressing ‘Enter’ will select the currently highlighted option. In most cases, you may exit from a menu without selecting any option by pressing the “esc” key.

“Hot keys” are provided to speed menu access. The first letter of each command will immediately select the item without having to move the menu bar. WARNING: In responding to city locations, watch out for cities that have the same first letter. Using the hot key will select the FIRST city on the menu that begins with the letter you press. If you wanted to select another, you must use the up/down arrow keys. Example: You have the option to recruit at Sardinia or Sicily, both of which begin with “S”. If you press “S”, Sardinia will be selected because it comes first alphabetically in the menu list. If you want to select Sicily instead, you must use the arrow keys. (If there had been no other cities beginning with “S” except for Sicily the hot key would have worked fine).

For the Option and Utility menus, the cursor stays on the submenu if there are more choices available for the item currently being selected (e.g., more troops to be drilled).

Otherwise it returns to the main menu and stays on the Option or Utility item.

PLEASE NOTE: TO RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU FROM EITHER THE COMMANDS OR UTILITY MENU, PRESS THE “ESCAPE” (“Esc”) KEY.

1.11 Game Setup

There are several setup options available which can be accessed from the “UTILITY” option of the Main Menu. You can swap sides, select 1 or 2 player options, control sound and graphic options, and adjust difficulty. When you save a game, the configuration file is automatically updated to the current set of options you have chosen.

1.12 Sequence of Play

Play proceeds in the following sequence for each game turn (representing 2 months):

Decision Phase

Side 1 Decisions (French if 2 players; Human if 1 player)

Recruit

Naval Actions (Resolved Immediately)

Move Orders

Other Decisions (Combine, Fortify, etc.)

Side 2 Decisions (Allies if 2 players; Computer if 1 player)

Recruit

Naval Actions (Resolved Immediately)

Move Orders

Other Decisions (Combine, Fortify, etc.)

Move & Combat Update Phase (Move Orders Carried Out)

Turn Update Phase

Income Updated Based on Cities Controlled

Unit Supply Updated

2 D E C I S I O N P H A S E

2.1 Land Movement

Movement is from city to city (point-to-point movement) by armies. Any number of friendly armies may stack in a city. A small number appears on the unit icon to show how many units are in the stack. Armies that move to a city occupied by an enemy army must fight the enemy, and either drive off the enemy (to capture the city) or be forced back themselves.

The move-to-menu for army shows the name of the occupying army if the target city is occupied.

NOTE: If there is more than one army in an occupied city that another army is viewing to move to, the name and strength of only one army is shown. You will need to consult the INFORM option to determine all the armies in that particular city.

Moving into an enemy city that is not occupied by an army results in automatic capture of the city. Movement into a “true” neutral city automatically captures the neutral city. The city will change colors to indicate change in control.

Fighting to capture an occupied fortified city reduces the fortification by one level. (Thus, a FORTIFIED+ city would be reduced to an unfortified city.) When an army captures an unoccupied fortified city, the fort is not necessarily reduced. The victorious army is given the option to raze the fortifications. Note that razing TOTALLY destroys the forts, even if they were double fortified.

2.2 Army Attributes

Armies have several attributes of importance. These will change as the game progresses, and it is important for you to understand how they influence the outcomes.

STRENGTH – the number of men in the unit; the prime attribute in combat

LEADER – ability score of the unit leader, from 1 to 10. Greatly affects the unit’s effectiveness in battle and movement.

EXPERIENCE – the number of battles the unit has won (0-10). More experienced units are more effective in combat. Each battle won increases the experience level by 1.

SUPPLY – the current state of food and equipment (0-10). Units use 1 unit of supply each turn, except in summer and autumn harvest months. Capturing cities and capturing enemy armies increases supply. Moving and fighting accelerate use of supplies. Units that are surrounded in enemy countries use supplies at an accelerated rate. Units that are ‘out of supply’ (supply level=0) fight at 50% effectiveness, and move more slowly. In winter months out of supply units cannot move at all. Units that are out of supply are marked with an “S” to make them easier to locate. Armies in port cities are always in supply if the city is not blockaded.

2.3 Napoleon

The stack commanded by Napoleon has some special abilities. His leadership bonus is very large. Unlike all other commanders, if he is defeated he is not necessarily eliminated from the game. He may be banished to Corsica with his unit size reduced to 1,000 soldiers. The French score will be reduced by half and the strength of all French units will be reduced by half. However, with fleet support, Napoleon can escape from Corsica back to the continent and the war may continue.

3 M A I N M E N U

3.1 Main Menu

3.2 Recruit

Allows you to recruit new armies or build up existing armies. Each recruitment requires 100 money units. If you do not have enough money, you cannot recruit.

You will be given several randomly selected cities where you may recruit. These will either be cities you originally owned or neutral cities you have captured. If the city is vacant, a NEW army is placed there, along with a commander and his corresponding abilities. ADDing recruits to an existing army increases its strength, but does not change the commander.

Newly created armies MAY NOT move the turn they are created, while they train and organize. Existing armies that are increased in strength CAN MOVE in the current turn.

The size of newly created armies depends on where they are recruited. The larger the city and higher the income it produces, the larger the number of recruits. For instance, if you are playing the French, you will build bigger armies faster by recruiting in Paris versus other cities. Experience level of recruits will be low (varies slightly, with slightly better levels for French armies).

NOTE: Once you have begun to recruit, you should NOT change sides or number of players, since the cities to recruit in are already selected for that part of the turn.

3.3 Commanders

Each side has 25 commanders available to lead separate armies. As the game progresses, the number of available commanders will be reduced as commanders are captured or are used to lead other units. (When units are captured, the commanders are removed from play. An exception is Napoleon, who will continue in play if possible).

If the list of 25 preset commanders is exhausted, there is list of “generic” commanders provided so you can still continue the game. Generic units are given Roman numeral identifiers. For instance, French army 12 is designated French XII. Allies army number 27 (being the second Allied army) is designated Allies II, and so forth.

3.4 Ships

Allows you to build and move fleets and bombard enemy cities. Each side has one fleet, consisting of 0-10 ships. Ships can be added to the fleet only in port cities controlled by that side.

Ships cost 100 money units. In each turn, they can be moved to any other port city. This means ships may move much more rapidly than armies, but their effect is different.

If the two fleets meet in a port, they will engage in combat. During each round of combat, the attacker has the option to press the attack or retire. Each ship can take 10 hits before it sinks. The current number of hits remaining is shown below the ship icon. Combat continues until one fleet either retreats or is eliminated. At the end of the turn, there can be only one fleet in a given port. English ships have a 10% combat advantage.

Ships can bombard enemy cities to damage defending armies or fortifications, or to drive the city to neutrality. If the city has an enemy army, the bombardment will damage the enemy. The fleet will also blockade the enemy army in the port, reducing his supplies. Fortified cities may have the forts damaged or reduced. However, forts may sink attacking ships.

Unfortified cities not occupied by a defending army may become neutral as a result of the bombardment.

3.5 Fast Naval Combat

The normal naval combat speed will be accelerated if you press any key after combat has begun.

3.6 Invasions – Marines

Small scale invasions by marine units from the fleet may be conducted only when the port city to be invaded is not hostile (either originally neutral or after being bombarded into neutrality) at neutral cities if there is more than one ship in the invading fleet. The fleet size will be reduced by 1 and the new army will seize the neutral city, under the leadership of the next available commander. The invading army is small and vulnerable to counterattack.

3.7 Raid Commerce

Ships from both sides have the option to raid enemy commerce on the high seas. This is shown as the “Raid” option on the Ships menu. Selecting this option will cause a red box to appear, with the word “Commerce” in it, along with the ship icon. Each turn that the fleet stays in this box, there is a probability of doing damage to the enemy by destroying commerce and thereby reducing his income. There is also a chance that one or more of the raiding ships will be sunk. If both fleets enter the commerce raiding zone, combat will occur and one fleet will either be destroyed or have to retreat. Only one fleet can remain in this zone at the end of the turn; that fleet will then attempt to raid enemy commerce.

3.8 Move Orders

Allows you to select an army to move and where to move it. A menu will cycle through all your armies that are able to move this turn. Armies that already have move orders, or that have been combined this turn, or that have built fortifications this turn, or newly created armies are not eligible to move in the current turn.

Once you select the army to move, the choice of all possible connecting destinations for that army are shown. Selecting a destination will result in a white dotted line from the selected unit to the destination. Note that the army does not move immediately. Rather, it will make its move during the move and update phase.

If an army with move orders is attacked during the move and update phase, there is a chance that it will not be able to carry out those orders. If it is defeated, it must retreat, but even if it wins it may have its movement orders cancelled.

3.9 Movement Across the Sea

Movement between England and the continent (e.g. London to Amsterdam) or between Sicily (or Sardinia) and the continent is considered movement across the sea and requires that special conditions be met:

Your friendly fleet must be in the port city where the army is moving FROM

The port city where the army is moving TO must NOT be occupied by the opposing fleet

3.10 Next Turn

When you have completed your decisions for the current turn, select this option to continue with the game sequence. Note that once the game sequence progresses, you cannot back up. Thus, when you select this option, you will be asked to confirm before the turn actually progresses.

3.11 Inform (Reports)

Seven different reports are potentially available; there is no cost for any of the reports.

1) Friendly Army report – Shows the status of all your armies, and other useful statistics on the progress of the game. After the first turn, it will also show the total strength of the enemy forces.

2) Enemy Army report – Shows information similar to Friendly army report, except that it shows less complete information on the enemy forces. It includes the composition of the enemy navy.

3) City report – Provides information on the cities, their worth, status, and so on.

4) Force summary – Shows on the map the strength of all armies (in 100’s of men). Because of the importance of knowing the force strengths, there is a hot key (F4) to access this information directly without having to go through the menu.

6) Battle Summary report – Shows number of battles won and casualties incurred for each side.

7) Recap report (available only if HISTORY option is ON in the Utility menu). – Scrolls through a chronicle of the history of the game thus far (battle outcomes and losses)

Typical chronicle entries might look like this:

Metz *Napoleon (3200/29600) defeats Alvintzi (5400/30200)

Berlin Blcher (1200/59900) defeats *Grouchy (3900/22400)

The asterisk indicates the attacker. Casualties and total troop strength are indicated in the parentheses.

3.12 Commands

See Commands Submenu for a description of the choices. These generally relate to special commands available for individual armies.

3.13 Utility

See Utility Submenu. These provide game options that allow various features of overall game play to be modified.

3.14 Files

Allows you to load or save games and to quit the program. There can be up to 8 user-saved games,”NWSx.SAV”, where “x” is a number from 1 to 8. Those file names for which a saved game exists are marked with a “û” as a reminder. When the game is started, the base game is automatically initialized, configured according to the current NWS.CFG settings.

3.15 Autosave

There is one additional saved game file NWS9.SAV, the autosave file, that is automatically updated at the end of each decision phase. This provides a backup in case the game is interrupted for any reason. The game can be resumed by loading the NWS9.SAV file.

4 O P T I O N S

4.1 Options Submenu

4.2 Cancel

Allows the move orders for unit selected (menu with eligible units will be displayed) to be canceled – in case you change your mind before you go to the next turn.

4.3 Fortify

If ALL the following conditions are met, you may fortify a city:

City is occupied by a friendly army

City is not already at DOUBLE FORTIFIED ++ level

You have at least 200 money units

All cities meeting these conditions, will appear in a menu of candidates. Selecting a city to fortify will cause the city icon to be updated on the game display. The army occupying a city that is fortified loses its turn (it is presumably busy building fortifications) and will be shown as ‘Resting’ in the Army report.

An army may increase a given city’s fortifications by 1 level per turn. If there are 2 units in a city, each army may add 1 level of fortification in a turn, thereby double fortifying the city.